


Cataclysm

by Debi_C



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Ascension, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-30
Updated: 2012-06-30
Packaged: 2017-11-08 20:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/447355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Debi_C/pseuds/Debi_C
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Jack leave Abydos during Ba'al's attack something strange happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cataclysm

The Abydos pyramid shook, the debris of three millennium rained down into the temple's gate room. The very stones themselves shivered and shifted upon themselves as Jack watched. 

The rest of the team had already left through the Stargate. Jack visually scanned the area quickly, making sure no one alive was left. He wouldn't leave anyone behind here. The huge monolithic structure was collapsing around him. The floor was vibrating, the walls shuddering as the building's blocks of stone were beginning to disintergrate in the assault from above. Bolts of lightening were forming before him, dancing in the electrically charged air. 

Out of time, he turned to run through the gate and was flung back from the wormhole, rejected as the lightning arced through the central room of the temple. Jack saw the pyramid's interior room begin to explode into rubble. The dust expanded outward to block the sun and rain burning sand on him, tearing his uniform and blistering his skin. He saw it happen but felt nothing, touched nothing as the stone walls came down upon him. 

 

Bright whiteness leaked into his consciousness. It was a pervasive, blinding kind of light, enveloping him like a glowing nebula. He tried to put his hands to his face to shield his eyes and block out the brilliant radiance, but when he made the effort, he realized that he had no hands, or arms, for that matter. Then again, evidently he had no eyes either, so he guessed that maybe it didn't matter in the long run. 

He couldn't tell how long he had been there, held in this prison of candescent light. It seemed like an eternity to him. He was enshrouded in a star- bright sea of luminosity. His shape, if he even had one, was no longer recognizable to him. He just seemed to exist, a blob of sensation floating in brilliance. Since no one had ever accused him of being brilliant before, he was stuck for a good reason for his being so damn glowy. The old joke punch line of being so bright that his mother had to call him son occurred to him, but he dismissed it. He had never had that particular line used on him, though he was sure Daniel had. Oh, God, Daniel? 

Abydos was gone. He knew it and he was stunned by the knowledge of its destruction. He could barely comprehend it. It couldn't happen. The building had been as old as the pyramids at Giza. For it to have been destroyed seemed a kind of heresy. 

Eight years ago, he and his team had emerged in that pyramid on the first trip through the Stargate with Daniel. Eight years ago, he had wanted to die. Eight years ago, he had begun to live again. Now, the place itself was dead. 

Anubis had blasted everything. Death and destruction had rained down from the sky onto Abydos. He had destroyed the planet, the pyramid, the Cartouche Room, Nagada, Kasuf, Skaara, Sha'uri's grave. Everything, everyone, everywhere, was gone, as if they had never existed. 

There was only one possibility, one reason this could have happened. Daniel must have lost his battle with the System Lord. That would mean that Daniel was dead . . . Daniel was gone. It didn't seem real to him. It couldn't be real. 

"Daniel! Daniel, where are you?" Jack called into the vacumn that surrounded him. " Daniel, come on! God. Damn. It. Daniel . . . You son-of-a-bitch! Where are you?" A sob swelled in his very being. "Daniel, don't leave me here. Don't leave me alone. Don't leave me behind." 

A knife pain jabbed into his nonexistent heart. Daniel wasn't coming back for him. He knew it. Daniel was gone. His friend was dead, really dead. The knowledge hurt him . . . to think that Daniel was dead. But, maybe he was dead, too. That was all right, then. He didn't want to live in a universe without a Daniel in it. Without a Daniel, well, dead was okay. He could live with being dead if there was no Daniel anymore. 

As he remained suspended in his very own despondent little universe, he imagined he could hear voices. They weren't sounds exactly, more like sparkly little thought bugs . . . like the glowy thingys on that moon planet . . . where was it? The light bees. . . except these didn't sting . . . they just kinda flew in and around his head, whispering. If he listened really hard, he could hear them. They seemed to be talking about someone. 

" . . . This one . . . " 

" . . . Not here . . . " 

" . . . Wrong time . . . " 

" . . . Too soon . . . " 

" . . . Still needed . . . " 

" . . . Return . . . " 

" . . . Must go back . . . " 

Then a familiar voice. "It wasn't his fault." 

Jack spun around in his prison of light searching for the source of the sounds. He knew that voice. "Daniel?" 

" . . . He stayed . . . " 

" . . . Why did he stay? . . ." 

"For me. For them. He couldn't leave anyone behind." 

"Daniel!" Jack called out. Was he hallucinating? With all this light, he should see something! 

" . . . Not his place . . . " 

" . . . No longer belong with him . . ." 

" . . . You are one of us now . . . " 

"I'll always belong with him." 

"Daniel?" He was sure now, that was Daniel's voice." 

" . . . ? . . . " 

"Just as he'll always belong with me." 

"Yet, he let you go." 

"Yes." 

"Why?" 

"I was dying. What could he have done?" 

"Indeed. What?" 

"Let him go, please." 

"This is why? He is the why?" a female sounding voice asked. 

A pause. "Yes, he is the why." 

"He is who you went to?" 

"Ba'al was killing him. He needed my help." 

"He was worth the risk to you? The risk to us all?" 

"Yes." 

"What is he worth now?" 

"Everything." 

"What will you give to keep him safe?" 

"Everything." 

"What will you give to release him?" 

"Everything." 

"Very well. You will not follow our path. You insist upon keeping to your own journey. It is because of him." 

"Yes." 

"The lit candle burns brightly for a short time, then it is gone. The unused one lasts forever." 

"But the unused candle is cold and in darkness. It serves no purpose." 

"Is it necessary to have a purpose?" 

"Yes, a lit candle's flame can show the way to wisdom . . . and love." 

"Is this wisdom so important? 

"Wisdom lights the way in the darkness." 

"Is this love so necessary to the candle?" 

"What is wisdom without love?" 

"But, is the journey worth the spending of the candle?" 

"Love gives meaning to the journey." 

"Very well, you may have your journey. But a price must be paid." 

"I understand." 

"Do you?" 

"Yes." 

"Very well. It is done." 

"Thank you." 

"Do not." 

"Daniel! Where are you?" O'Neill cried out. "Daniel! Talk to me!" 

 

O'Neill came through the Stargate and walked down the ramp. The iris closed behind him as he joined the rest of his team. 

"What was that?" Jonas looked at him curiously. "What just happened?" 

"Abydos was hit." he replied softly. 

"You saw it?" Carter asked. 

"I felt it, just before I came through." 

The Major left the Gate room and headed up to the Control Room. 

"Sergeant, call up a full Gate diagnostic." As she sat down next to him, she asked Davis., "What have you got?" 

The Master Sergeant continued his query. "I'm working on it. A large burst of energy was transmitted through the wormhole just after Colonel O'Neill came through." 

The rest of SG1 came into the control room. Jack looked at his second in command. "Carter?" 

"We're lucky they closed the iris when they did, sir. A massive energy wave followed you through the wormhole." 

O'Neill said in a strained voice, "Redial." 

"Yes, sir." 

General Hammond entered the Gate room at a jog. "Welcome back SG-1. What happened?" 

"Seems there was a large explosion on the planet just after we left, sir." 

Hammond looked at her sharply. "Is that possible?" 

"Unfortunately, sir." Jack replied to his commander. 

Carter watched Davis as he continued to work. "We're dialing Abydos now to see what happened." 

"Chevron six encoded. Chevron seven will not lock,." Harriman reported. 

Hammond looked at SG1 and said,. "Briefing Room." 

"Yes, sir." O'Neill replied. 

Carter looked at him. "It's lucky you came through when you did. You could have been killed." 

O'Neill turned and gazed down at the gate. "Yes, Carter. Lucky." 

 

There was a sudden bright light in the forest. The natives approached the area cautiously. To their surprise, they found a naked man lying in the dirt. The stranger opened his eyes and looked at them in confusion and fear. 

Finally, one of the men approached the frightened man and spoke to him gently. "Who are you?" 

The man was young, fair of face and form. He looked at them fearfully and finally replied, "I don't know."


End file.
